Global superstar Céline Dion has had an incredible musical career spanning more than 40 years – amassing an array of awards along the way, while also meeting the love of her life René Angélil, who began as her manager before becoming her husband.
The phenomenal international success that Dion has achieved once seemed like an impossible dream for a two-year-old girl living in a tiny Canadian town on the outskirts of Montréal… yet her sheer grit and determination saw her defeat the odds to achieve what many never will.
It is that same grit and determination that the singer must now rely on as she faces what is arguably her toughest battle yet: an incurable neurological disorder diagnosis that could see her stripped of her musical gifts for good.
Dion previously spoke to People in 2020 about music being a ‘healing force’ and how writing her album, Courage, helped her find new strength even in the face of devastating tragedy – including the loss of her husband and her brother, who died within days of one another.
‘It’s no secret that I’ve gone through some tough times, obviously losing my husband and my brother a few years ago, and my mother very recently,’ she said.
Céline Dion revealed she had been diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome – a rare and incurable neurological disease – on Thursday
‘Life presents challenges to us and we try to find ways to move on. Music can be a healing force, and the songs on my new album have helped me find new strength in my life… and perhaps a bit more independence, because I’m the head of the household now.’
The iconic songstress revealed on Thursday she has Stiff Person Syndrome – a rare and incurable neurological disease.
And in the wake of the devastating news, FEMAIL has taken a look back at Dion’s stellar musical career – which includes five Grammys, a Billboard Icon Award, four number-one hits and 10 top 10 hits.
How did the Canadian singer go from the youngest of 14 children in a humble family to a beloved songstress who cemented her diva status by producing one of the most iconic songs of all time?
Céline Dion the child star: Singing from the age of two to first meeting future manager and husband at 12
Born on March 30, 1968, in the small town of Charlemagne, in the Canadian province of Québec, Dion started singing from a young age of two as music was very central to her family life.
‘She was born in a house where everybody was singing or playing music,’ Dion’s biographer George-Hebert Germain told CNN.
‘Guitar, piano, drums, everything. And she was raised in this family where the music was so important.’
Céline Dion was the youngest of 14 children in a humble family and started singing from the age of 2
Her mother and brother helped her pen her first song, Ce n’était qu’un rêve, at 12. The demo tape was sent to René Angélil, 38, who immediately became her biggest fan
Dion is pictured here as a child. Angélil would later mortgage his house to pay for her first album
But her first breakthrough into the music industry came at the age of 12.
With the help of her mother, Thérèse, and brother Jacques, Dion wrote the French-language song, Ce n’était qu’un rêve, which translates to It Was Only A Dream.
Thérèse sent Dion’s demo tape to budding producer René Angélil, then 38, who had been a manager to Ginette Reno, a Québécois singer that her family was huge fans of.
His interest was piqued by her demo and he invited her to his office where he asked her to sing into a pencil like ‘you were in front of a sold-out audience’, according to Dion’s biography on her website.
A Dion family photo from December 1997. From left to right, 1st row: Jacques, Louise, Thérèse, Adhémar, Liette and Paul. From left to right, 2nd row: Manon, Denise, Pauline, Ghislaine, Clément, Céline, Claudette, Michel, Daniel and Linda
Dion pictured is Paris at the age of about 14 in 1982. She won the gold medal at the Yahama World Popular Song Contest in Tokyo, singing Tellement j’ai d’amour pour toi
At 14, she was beamed to 115 million TV viewers. This win helped cement her as a household name in Canada. Pictured again in 1982
She also dropped out of school in the eighth grade to pursue her career as a singer. By 1985 after numerous appearances on TV, she was a recognizable star in both Canada and France
‘It really shook me up,’ he said, according to CNN. ‘You hear a voice like that every 10, 20 years.’
From then on, Angélil was Dion’s manager and her ‘biggest fan’. Many years later, he would also become her husband.
He would mortgage his house to pay for her first album, French-language La Voix du Bon Dieu, released in 1981.
The next year, she won the gold medal at the Yahama World Popular Song Contest in Tokyo, singing Tellement j’ai d’amour pour toi. At 14, she was beamed to 115 million TV viewers – and the win helped cement her as a household name in Canada.
She also dropped out of school in the eighth grade to pursue her career as a singer.
By 1985, after numerous appearances on TV, she was a recognizable star in both Canada and France.
An undated photo of Dion with her father, Adhemar, who died of cancer in 2003
Dion performs in a white suit in New York circa 1993, with a disco ball hanging above her
Pursuing global domination: New look, Eurovision and breaking into the US market
In a 2002 article, CNN reported Dion disappeared from the public eye for 18 months from 1985 – during which she underwent a major transformation.
‘Dion’s teeth were capped, her hairstyle changed, a new wardrobe was procured and she even took English classes,’ the story reads.
Up until this point, she had released a number of French albums and the hope was for her to reach a new and wider audience in English.
Dion disappeared from the public eye for 18 months from 1985 during which she underwent a major transformation. She is pictured here in 1984
She showed off her new look and musical sound in 1987’s Incognito at the age of 19.
It sold more than 500,000 copies and it was the first album produced in collaboration with her new record label CBS (later Sony Music), which counted Michael Jackson in their stable of artists.
But her real global journey began when she won the 1988 Eurovision contest, representing Switzerland (one of the songwriters of the chosen song Ne partez pas sans moi, or Don’t Leave Without Me in English, was Swiss), which was held in Dublin, Ireland, that year. The contest was seen on TV by 600 million people.
Dion was beamed to households all over the world after competing in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest
She won the 1988 contest with a song called Don’t Leave Without Me in English, one of its composers was Swiss
Off the back of this success, she made a splash in the US two years later with her first English-language album Unison. A single off this album, Where Does My Heart Beat Now, peaked at number five on the charts and was certified gold in the US.
She made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and she was honored with Junos, the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys, for Album of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year.
In 1991, she released another album, Dion chante Plamondon, which was certified gold on the day it was released.
Dion in the recording studio in 1988. She made a splash in the US two years later with her first English-language album Unison
Dion (centre) attends a ceremony honoring her with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 6, 2004 in Hollywood. She is with honorary mayor Johnny Grant, Angelil, comedian Jay Leno and Hollywood Chamber president LeRon Gubler
Her duet with Peabo Bryson for the Disney film, Beauty And The Beast, reached number 1 worldwide, earning her a Grammy. Dion is pictured here with Angelil in 1990
The success continued that same year when her duet with Peabo Bryson for the Disney film, Beauty And The Beast, reached number 1 worldwide, earning her a Grammy.
On her 24th birthday, she and Peabo took to the stage during the 1992 Oscars broadcast.
The next day she released her second English-language album, the self-titled Celine Dion, on The Tonight Show. Prince wrote ballad With This Tear for her album.
The Color Of My Love: An album about René Angélil
In 1993, Dion dropped her third English-language album and in the liner notes she revealed to fans she and Angélil were in love.
‘I wrote a note behind my album,’ Dion said, according to CNN.
‘Rene is my love, I can’t keep this secret inside of me anymore. It’s getting too powerful. Let me paint a truth and show you how I feel. Rene, you are the color of my love.’
Dion announced to her fans she and her long-time manager were in love in the liner notes of The Color Of Love, her 1993 album
The couple married in a church ceremony in Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica in 1994
A single on the album, The Power Of Love, topped the Billboard charts, spending four weeks at number one. In England, the album and single Think Twice was number one for five weeks, matching a record held by the Beatles.
Off the same album, When I Fall In Love was chosen to be the theme of the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan film, Sleepless in Seattle.
The Color Of My Love was certified diamond in Canada, where it sold more than 1 million copies.
The next year, Dion and Angélil married in a church ceremony in Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica.
Dion and her husband pictured in 1995. ‘Rene is my love, I can’t keep this secret inside of me anymore. It’s getting too powerful,’ she wrote in the note to her fans
The Color Of My Love was certified diamond in Canada, where it sold more than 1 million copies
In 1995, she released another album, D’eux, which became the best-selling French album in history, with 10 million copies sold globally.
That same year she won Song of the Year for Pour que tu m’aimes encore and Female Vocalist of the Year.
She followed this album in 1996 with Falling Into You. It became the biggest-selling album of 1996 worldwide, hitting number one in 11 countries and selling more than 30 million copies.
It garnered two Grammys, including Album of the Year.
The Olympics and Titanic success, but Dion to dealt a devastating blow
Dion hit another global milestone, singing The Power Of The Dream at the Opening Ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, an event watched on TV by 3.5 billion people.
Her triumph continued the next year when she launched her 18th album, Let’s Talk About Love. Some of her most notable collaborations were on this album, including Luciano Pavarotti, Barbra Streisand, the Bee Gees, Carole King and Sir George Martin.
Dion was watched by 3.5 billion people worldwide on TV as she performed at the Opening Ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games
Her mega-hit My Heart Will Go On spurred on her fame. The song earned Best Original Song at the Oscars
She appears at the front of the ship during the music video of My Heart Will Go On, mirroring the famous scene from Titanic, with Rose and Jack
Dion and Angelil pictured at the 1999 Grammy Awards after she won Record of the Year and for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for My Heart Will Go On
But one song on this album would catapult her into another stratosphere: My Heart Will Go On, the theme song from James Cameron’s blockbuster movie Titanic. It went on to win Best Original Song at the Oscars and the album won two Grammys.
Let’s Talk About Love sold 30 million copies, equaling the sales of Titanic’s original soundtrack.
Dion toured the world with Let’s Talk About Love, including two shows at Paris’s Stade de France was attended by 180,000 people. During this time, her husband was battling throat cancer after his diagnosis in 1998.
She took a well-deserved, two-year break from 1999 after she had given her last concert at the Centre Molson in Montréal on December 31, ringing in the new year with a recovering Angélil.
Dion here with Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred as Jack along Kate Winslet’s Rose in Titanic, in 1997
James Horner (right) and Will Jennings (left) hold up their Oscars between Celine Dion after winning for Best Original Song for their work on Titanic in 1998
Dion poses with the two Grammy Awards she won for Record of the Year and for Best Female Pop vocal Performance for My Heart Will Go On in 1999
The return of Céline after a two-year hiatus: Las Vegas residencies and the birth of her children
After the birth of her first child, René-Charles Angélil, in January 2001, Celine returned with a new album a year later: A New Day Has Come.
It climbed to number one in 17 countries, including the US, Canada, UK, France and Australia.
The couple welcomed their first child, Rene-Charles, in January 2001
The opening night of her 2003 Las Vegas residency, A New Day
The singer belts out a song as she’s on stage in Las Vegas, the start of a residency that was going to last for almost five years
She celebrates her 1000th show at the Colosseum in 2016 on stage
Dion throws up a first as she marks the end of her Las Vegas residency in 2019 as fireworks explode above her at he Colosseum
The singer shines during her residency at Las Vegas’s Caesars Palace in 2015
In 2003, she would embark on an ambitious project – a $100 million, five-night-a-week Las Vegas residency, which initially was only meant to last three years.
‘A spectacle including dancers and special effects directed by Franco Dragone, the renowned creator behind 10 Cirque du Soleil productions. The show, A New Day…, is a revolution. It forever changed the face of the entertainment capital,’ Dion’s website said.
‘The premiere was held on March 25, 2003, the farewell almost five years later, on December 15, 2007. Over 700 sold-out performances for three million spectators!’
During this residency at Caesars Palace’s 4000-seat theater, she also released more albums: One Heart, Une fille & four types, A New Day… Live in Las Vegas, Miracle, D’elles, On ne change pas and Taking Chances.
The DVD of her residency, Celine Dion Live In Las Vegas, is the only triple-certified music DVD in Canada.
After she left Vegas, it was not long before she began her global tour, opening in February 14, 2008 in South Africa – travelling to five continents, 23 countries, 93 cities and was seen by three million people.
Two years later, she gave birth to twins on October 23, 2010, Nelson and Eddy. They were baptized on March 10, 2011 just 10 days before her record-breaking return to Las Vegas’s Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
She released two more albums in quick succession: Sans attendre in 2012 and Loved Me Back To Life in 2013. The latter clinched number 1 on the iTunes charts in 44 countries and peaked at number two on the Billboard Top 200.
Dion premieres the much-anticipated return of her headline residency show at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in 2015
An Instagram photo of Dion with her children – Rene-Charles, Eddy and Nelson – in 2020
Rene-Charles with his parents at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 2009
But the high wouldn’t last long, in 2013, she found out her husband had been diagnosed with another bout of throat cancer.
She delayed her commitments to care for her husband during his illness. Months into caring for him, Angélil asked her to take the stage once more, “he wanted to hear her sing again”.
Sadly on January 14, 2016, Angélil died. Two days later, Dion’s brother Daniel passed away.
Dion holding one of her twins as she arrives with her family at Caesars Palace 2011 for her residency rehearsals
Dion mourns with her three children – Rene-Charles, Eddy and Nelson – at the state funeral for Angelil who died in January 2016
Days later, Dion loses her brother, Daniel (pictured in an undated photo)
The Dion-Angelil family look up at a photo of Rene at his memorial in Las Vegas in 2016
Life after Angélil: The Show Must Go On
Weeks after the deaths of her husband and brother, Dion returned to the Colosseum in February.
In May that same year she sang The Show Must Go On at the Billboard Music Awards where she was presented the Lifetime Achievement Icon Award by her son, René-Charles.
As a tribute to Angélil, Dion dedicated Encore un soir off her 2016 French album of the same name to him. The song went to number one on every chart in the French-speaking world.
She was presented the Lifetime Achievement Icon Award by her son, René-Charles, at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards
Dion during the final show of her Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on June 08, 2019
After its release by Sony Music, Encore un soir climbed to the top of the charts in France, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland.
It was certified diamond in France, double-platinum in Canada, and platinum in both Switzerland and Belgium. It was also her first French album to enter the Billboard charts in the US.
During the summer she did 28 sold-out shows in Europe and Quebec.
In 2017, she continued her Las Vegas residency.
Dion is awarded of the Legion d’Honneur in Paris back in 2008. She’s pictured with Angelil, mother Therese and then-president Nicolas Sarkozy
In 2007, Dion walked the red carpet at the 79th Annual Academy Awards with her mother
She returned to the Beauty And The Beast fold, singing How Does A Moment Forever for the live action remake starring Emma Watson as Belle.
In the same year she celebrated Titanic’s 20th anniversary by singing My Heart Will Go On at the Billboard Music Awards.
Dion took another break from her residency to tour for the summer, performing in Europe and UK to sold-out crowds at 25 shows in 15 cities before returning to Vegas until the end of the year.
‘She broke records across the UK as the highest grossing artist at each UK venue and garnered critical acclaim,’ her website says.
In 2018, she releases Ashes for the Deadpool 2 movie, with the music video featuring the titular character and filmed at Caesars Palace, and she toured the Asia-Pacific, Australia and New Zealand.
When she returned to her Las Vegas residency in 2018, she announced it would end on June 8, 2019.
Dion premiered a new track from her new album, Courage, called Flying On My Own at her last show in Vegas.
Three months later, she was touring again and in November she releases Courage, her first English album in six years.
Celine the pop culture icon
In the years following her husband’s death, Celine has further solidified her status as a pop culture icon.
Dion delighted fans when she appeared in a viral 2017 Vogue video entitled: Celine Dion Takes Paris in the Best Couture Looks of the Season.
She won millions of hearts as she donned various couture looks while strutting and dancing in a Paris hotel and through the streets in the City of Lights.
Dion has solidified her status as pop culture icon as years have gone on. Here she is pictured at the 2019 Met Gala in a spectacular fringed bodysuit
In 2017, she stunned again with an Atelier Versace gown designed by Donatella Versace herself.
But it’s her 2019 Met Gala turn, the theme being Camp: Notes on Fashion, that lives rent-free in our minds.
She showed up in a sparkling fringed bodysuit designed by Oscar de la Renta paired with a 22-pound feathered headpiece.
She’s wowed over the years with a excellent sartorial choices. Dion is pictured above in 2020
Dion makes a statement with a huge hot pink floral skirt and knitted white rollneck sweater
Celine first hinted at her health woes in January this year when she cancelled the North American dates of her Courage world tour from March 9 to April 22.
Thursday’s announcement came three months after she had to cancel the start of her Las Vegas comeback residency over the same health issue.
In 2019, Celine sparked concern among her followers who accused her of being ‘too thin’.
The Canadian songstress told Entertainment Tonight that ‘she’s always been very thin,’ adding: ‘Is there anything wrong about my body?’
She continued: ‘When you go back, when I was 12 years old, my face was rounder because you have more fat and you’re younger… But I’ve always been very thin.’
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